How to Keep Your Teeth Straight After Invisalign

Once you’ve finally achieved your dream of having straight teeth thanks to Invisalign, you’ll want to know exactly what you need to do to keep your teeth in their perfect positions. After all, we want you to love the look of your smile for the rest of your life. Here’s what to expect after completing teeth straightening with Invisalign in Yellowknife and how to preserve your new and perfect smile.

Your teeth are held in position, in part, by your jaw bone. During treatment with Invisalign near you, your jaw bone actually softens and undergoes a process called resorption. Resorption allows your teeth to move through jaw bone tissue into their new position. The jaw bone tissue around your teeth once they’re in their final position takes approximately nine to 12 months to develop and stiffen completely and become strong enough to hold your teeth in their new positions.

Your teeth will have a very natural and normal tendency to want to shift out of their new positions even apart from the normal process of your body restoring its jaw bone strength and density following resorption. The normal day-to-day activities of biting, chewing, swallowing and talking all contribute to the movement of your teeth.

The staff at your dental clinic in Yellowknife will explain how important it is to wear a retainer after completing your Invisalign treatment plan, especially during the first 12 months after finishing your set of aligners. Wearing retainers every night while you sleep for that first year will hold your teeth in position while new jaw bone tissue is being deposited around the roots of your teeth.

Teeth movement after completing Invisalign treatment plans happens so naturally and subtlely that you may not even notice it. One sure way to realize that your teeth are moving is to miss wearing your retainer for a few days, and then realize how snug or even uncomfortable it feels when you wear it for the first time in a while. To eliminate that feeling of snugness and discomfort and to prevent your teeth from moving noticeably and undoing all your hard work, wear your aligner daily for the first 12 months (or as long as a dentist near you recommends).

At some point, a dentist near you will confirm that you have enough jaw tissue deposited securely around the roots of your teeth that you can stop wearing your retainer as often. This typically happens around the one-year mark after completing an Invisalign treatment plan. This doesn’t mean you can quit wearing your retainer. To preserve your Invisalign results, you should still wear a retainer three to five times a week. At this point, your teeth will be less likely to move due to the resorption process, but they’ll still have a normal tendency to move with age.

As you approach the end of your Invisalign treatment plan, ask your dentist in Yellowknife to prepare a retainer for you. The retainer will be custom-made based on the new position of your teeth and information gleaned from 3D scans of your teeth or impressions. By the time you’re done wearing Invisalign’s aligners, wearing a retainer will have become second nature.

Wearing an Invisalign retainer will help to keep your teeth in their perfect, healthy and beautiful positions for the rest of your life. By wearing a retainer, you can be confident that none of the money, effort and sacrifices you spent and made while wearing Invisalign go to waste.